HISTORY A HISTORY OF SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK IN FLORIDA Compiled and edited by Sandy San Miguel, MSW, October 2014 The roots of school social work in Florida can be found in a first organizational meeting that took place in Tampa, Florida on April 10, 1942 during the annual state conference of the Florida Education Association. A small group comprised of home visitors and truant officers, mostly from Central Florida school districts, petitioned the FEA Board to create a special section that would recognize their special role within public education. We were officially known at that time as the Attendance Assistants Section of the Florida Education Association (F.E.A.) from 1942 through 1950. Our first known leader was Fannie Tulloss (school district not named). During 1943-1945 no FEA Section meetings were held due to the WWII years. In the ensuing years, the Section was led by Providence Velasco (1946 and 1947), Wilma Watson (1948), James Rice (1949) and Faye Wilson (1950). Our oldest archival records indicate that Providence Velasco (Hillsborough school district) with a few other school district leaders from throughout the state planned and held our first state conference in 1946. It was for one day and held separately from the annual FEA state conference. After that, annual meetings were planned to discuss the members’ evolving roles within Florida school districts as well as to take action defining those roles. In 1951, the title certificate issued by the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) was changed from “attendance assistant” to “visiting teacher” but no changes were made to the educational requirements for the certificate (you could have a college degree in any field). Our group name within FEA was changed to partially reflect this new certificate: Visiting Teachers and Attendance Assistants Section of F.E.A. and was ably led once again by Providence Velasco (1951 & 1952) and then Mary J. Gourley (1953 & 1954). By 1955, the F.E.A. Constitution was changed to formally adopt the name to Visiting Teachers Section of F.E.A. It was also during 1955 that Annabelle Brantley was appointed as the first FDOE state “visiting teachers” consultant and worked closely with the following leaders of the newly named section of the FEA. § 1955 Tallulah Earle Overby § 1956 & 1957 Paul B. Stephens, Jr. § 1958 Delia P. Sanchez § 1959 Mary S. Smith § 1960 Alan C. Hobbs § 1961 Edward O. Schweitzer § 1962 & 1963 D. Ralph Storey § 1964 Basil White § 1965 Ollis Smith § 1966 Agnes Martin § 1967 Jean Wallace § 1968 William Thiel § 1969 Elizabeth Gass § 1970 William Thiel § 1971 Dennis Fillingim In 1972, section members appointed a group to develop By-Laws in order to form an organization separate and distinct from the FEA. The name Visiting Teachers/School Social Workers (VT/SSW) was adopted as the Association’s name in order to reflect the changing roles and competency of its membership. At the state level, Josephine Newton was appointed as the new FDOE state consultant for VT/SSW. She worked tirelessly with the following VT/SSW Presidents and their Boards who were elected from all parts of the state: § 1972 Eugene Boshell § 1973 Joseph Johnson § 1974 Gaye Katsaris § 1975 Lawrence Pool § 1976 Norman Richards § 1977 Naomi Knepper § 1978 Samuel Teague § 1979 Arthur Woodruff § 1980 Carol Thackham § 1981 Glen Kranzow § 1982 David Dupper § 1983 Wilma Austin § 1984 Mary Alice Valentine § 1985 Carol Smith § 1986 Kenneth Gaughan § 1987 Shirley Patterson/ Patricia Battista § 1988 Patricia Battista § 1989 Kenneth Marsh Under their leadership the 1970’s and 80’s were proactive years for the Association as it expanded its activities and development to a more professional membership and began to acquire statewide influence at the governmental level. By 1990, the name Florida Association of School Social Workers (FASSW) was adopted by the Board to emphasize the unique, diverse and increasingly professional social work role of its membership. The following year, lobbyist Kay Young was hired by the Association to be its official legislative liaison in Tallahassee to help promote and bring awareness of school social work related issues to state legislators. She also reviewed annual statewide education budgets and any emerging bills detrimental to the profession or our established platform issues. In 1994 after an exhaustive search in which the then FASSW president participated, a school social worker from Duval County, Gria Baham-Davison was appointed as the FDOE state school social work consultant to take this important liaison position from the retiring Josephine Newton. The FASSW Board during the 1990’s also began to explore changes to FDOE certification rules that would bring it to the same educational level as other state student services professional groups. During this time, FASSW had the following elected statewide presidential leadership: § 1990 Madonna Wise § 1991 John Steverding § 1992 Alex Weinberger § 1993 Sandra “Sandy” San Miguel § 1994 Paul Holden § 1995 Paul Holden § 1996 Kathleen Boyle § 1997 David Chamberlin § 1998 Rhonda Terpak § 1999 Faye Kravitz After an almost 5-year process, numerous education commission hearings, written testimony from university social work deans, FDOE collaboration and persistent efforts, FDOE certification rules were finally changed in 1998 to require a degree in social work education for any new SSW state certification candidates and eliminating all mandatory education coursework for the certicate. It essentially required that all future school district school social work titled hires have that degree. The name School Social Worker replaced the previous certificate title of Visiting Teacher. The FASSW Board saw these changes as finally providing validation and assurances to school districts that future school social work employees would be trained professionals in the field, as were guidance counselors and school psychologists. As we begin the 21st Century, FASSW has forged ahead (under the leadership of our state presidents indicated below) to meet new challenges to our profession by forming new alliances and collaborating with other state or national student services professionals on legislation and rules impacting the scope of our services to children and families. § 2000 Elizabeth King § 2001 Barbara Mills § 2002 Benita Tillman Brown § 2003 Wendy Kall § 2004 Donna Sicilian § 2005 Wilfredo Nieves § 2006 Robert Lucio § 2007 Robert Lucio § 2008 Douglas Spohn § 2009 Douglas Spohn § 2010 Beverley Wilks § 2011 Beverley Wilks § 2012 Wilfredo Nieves § 2013 Wilfredo Nieves § 2014 Laurel Thompson § 2015 Laurel Thompson § 2016 Liliana Pardo-Posse § 2017 Karie Johnston § 2018 Karie Johnston § 2019 - Present Lynnette Judge In April 2014, Dr. Trevis Killen was selected for the position of state SSW consultant on FDOE’s Student Services Project Team after the unexpected and sudden death of our longtime school social work consultant Gria Baham-Davison. The FASSW Board decided to honor her memory by naming its designated Children’s Fund as the Gria B. Davison Children’s Fund to serve as a legacy to her passionate devotion to children’s issues. In 2021 the FASSW Bylaws were restructured, extending the offices of President and Treasurer. The offices of President and Treasurer was extended to 3-year terms with a maximum of 2 consecutive terms. This change was instituted in an effort to provide more consistent leadership as the complexities of the office of President has significantly expanded. |